Kit Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 Hi, I'm troubleshooting some interesting symptoms on a '93 2.2L Legacy. The car has been regularly serviced at a dealership and has 272k miles on it. Its owner doesn't plan on keeping it "forever" but I'm hoping to keep it comfortably drivable until she does decide to sell or trade in. Known problems: Hesitation under load. Unless the gas pedal is finessed a bit, it can be very juddery to start and while still cold, low idle when cold, and definite hesitation under about 3k rpms, warm or cold, but mostly cold. The other interesting problem is that if it's switched between different vent settings (dash/defrost, defrost/floorboard, etc) the RPMs drop sharply and then come back up, and if the climate control is set to "vent", the car doesn't like to start. It will start and shudder at low rpms, then die again. It'll take a couple of tries, but it will stay running eventually on 'vent'. The car has had a complete tune-up recently at the stealership- air filter, spark plugs, oil change, and that didn't change the hesitation. Poking around the forum has me suspecting the plug caps and/or wires, the low idle when cold has me wondering about the PCV valve and/or the IAC valve, but I wanted to ask you all. The climate control/vent problem has me stumped, though. Thanks for your time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kit Posted February 21, 2015 Author Share Posted February 21, 2015 Bump... Nobody? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forester2002s Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 The change in idle-speed with defrost/vent settings may be normal, and due to the AC compressor being engaged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legacy777 Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 The change in idle is normal due to the AC compressor coming on and off when the defrost and AC vent settings are selected vs. the other vent settings that don't use the AC compressor. These cars had issues with their original knock sensors. the plastic would crack and cause hesitation. Subaru has a newer style, and you can tell the difference by the color of the connector. The old connector was gray where the new one was white. You can see the sensor and white connector in this picture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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